Thanks to our wonderful banking system that has rewarded greed rather than performance, the current mess on the various stock markets has pushed me to cancel my trip. I have serious doubts that the stock market will sort itself out over the next 6 months in time to recover enough money to fund a trip.

I hope this does not affect anyone else, but based on the activity in Europe, Middle East and US - I would expect to see an increase in cancellations and a lowering of prices.

Hang tough...

I am in the same boat, oh well. BUT, lets put blame where it belongs. Barney Franks, Chris Dod, and Christopher Cox.

The fox has been watching the hen house and he very fat.....

quote:

Originally posted by JBoutfishn:
I am in the same boat, oh well. BUT, lets put blame where it belongs. Barney Franks, Chris Dod, and Christopher Cox.

The fox has been watching the hen house and he very fat.....

I have to blame all Politicians, buth Republicans and Demecrats are crooked self centered people. We need to vote them all out and put in Term Limits, and while at it make them be involved in Social Security and it would not be bad if they all had to run a business and meet a payroll and deal with government regulations for a few years before they ran for office.

Back to African Hunting, I was going to look for a cancellation Buff hunt for 09. Not sure now.

quote:

Originally posted by BulldogMaster:
Thanks to our wonderful banking system that has rewarded greed rather than performance, the current mess on the various stock markets has pushed me to cancel my trip. I have serious doubts that the stock market will sort itself out over the next 6 months in time to recover enough money to fund a trip.

I hope this does not affect anyone else, but based on the activity in Europe, Middle East and US - I would expect to see an increase in cancellations and a lowering of prices.

Hang tough...

Too late now, but the obvious answer was to cash out enough to fund your safari when the stocks were at a level which would support those plans and then put that money into a money market, CD, or treasuries.

Instead you let your hopes for higher prices interfere with what you wanted to do.

However, that said, if I had done what I recommended you do, that is money markets or whatever, I doubt that I could restrain myself from chunking that money back into the market at this poing. It's raining soup, boys, time to buy. I refer you to an old saying, "Sell into euphoria, buy in chaos."

I leave in two weeks for an elephant hunt with Vaughan Fulton. I paid the balance off last month and have been making payments for it over the last two years. I am glad I spent it for hunting rather than putting into the stock market. That said, this will probably be my last hunt for awhile as this crunch is going to put a serious dent into my disposable income. I think my sign off line needs to be adjusted.

This may be better moved to the political forum , but I can only blame politicians for the pork barrel spending, and in so far as they participated in the greed and overinflation of the housing market.

I personally believe that greed, stupidity and dishonesty is responsible for the current economic situation. Greed and dishonesty on the part of lenders, realators, home buyers, sellers and builders. The stupidity comes from uninformed buyers signing mortgages and paperwork that they did not understand.

Jesse

quote:

I have to blame all Politicians, buth Republicans and Demecrats are crooked self centered people. We need to vote them all out and put in Term Limits, and while at it make them be involved in Social Security and it would not be bad if they all had to run a business and meet a payroll and deal with government regulations for a few years before they ran for office.

I am glad to know I am not the only one that thinks term limits would fix MOST of our problems.

I normally agree with The Gato, but I'm not ready in this market to do much "chunking" of funds into this hurricane. I've been pulling funds out in big wads for over a year, and buying back in, in drips and drabs. I can't find much that's been a winner. Luckily my hunt is done for 2008, and I'm watching developments before plunking down funds for the next hunt; probably leopard.

My health has been in lock-step with the market. I'm currently in a Dallas hospital trying to recover from a bacterial infection in my blood caused by a prostate biopsy. Hopefully I will rebound before the market does, because I don't see the Dow headed north soon.

Hey, they have it for the President, why not everyone else? It's a shame that anyone has to cancel their safari plans because of some greedy politicians.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
I normally agree with The Gato, but I'm not ready in this market to do much "chunking" of funds into this hurricane. I've been pulling funds out in big wads for over a year, and buying back in, in drips and drabs. I can't find much that's been a winner. Luckily my hunt is done for 2008, and I'm watching developments before plunking down funds for the next hunt; probably leopard.

My health has been in lock-step with the market. I'm currently in a Dallas hospital trying to recover from a bacterial infection in my blood caused by a prostate biopsy. Hopefully I will rebound before the market does, because I don't see the Dow headed north soon.

Kensco:

Certainly wish you a full recovery soon.

I'm not a financial advisor and I certainly don't intend to recommend any stocks for anyone in this forum, but just for a couple of examples, a major drug company with a well covered dividend is yielding nearly 7%. I am quite familiar with some of the natural gas stocks in the Haynesville, Barnett, and a couple of other gas plays and some of them are dirt cheap now. I like a major copper/gold producer which is down roughly 2/3s off its high and yielding a relatively safe 5% or so and I could go on and on. Want spread your risk, there are a couple of Aussie stocks that are worthy of consideration. The world isn't going to come to an end but we sure as hell are going to have inflation after this temporary deflation (which could last2 or 3 years) down the road. They can't throw trillions of dollars around like a drunk with his paycheck buying beers for the house and expect the dollar to hold its value against real assets.

Everyone should do what they think is best for their financial well being, if that means hiding your money under a mattress, so be it. I'm buying stocks almost daily.

I'm 74 years of age and took a significent hit in the Tech bubble burst of several years back and with the arrival of my statement yesterday I took an almost 30% loss of my savings. I see no hope at all in any recovery enough to hunt again in my lifetime. I was saving for at least ONE more hunt of some plains game but lost hearing in my left ear and the $1000 cost of the hearing aid to partially restore my lost hearing put a little crimp in my plans and this last hit on the market wiped them out. I can only blame my own greed though because when the tech bubble grew so big if I had not been greedy and wanted more (I was hunting regularly in Zimbabwe then) I would have sheltered some of that wealth. That seems to be the major problem with us, we all want something for nothing. I can fault politicians though, as they all make such a big thing of being in politics for the good of the PEOPLE. I know I certainly didn't turn down any of the increase in value of my tech stocks though being in the tech industry I knew full well the underlying value was not really there. Simple greed. It's a terrible thing to have it come up and bite you in the ass. As the man said though 'I've been to the fair and seen the elephant' so I really don't have many legitimate complaints.

Bulldog:
You may be right about increasing cancellations, but I'd bet what little I have left in the market there will be NO PRICE BREAKS offered by any African outfits.

Gato

If I told you what I was buying you would think I was using a shotgun to select my picks, but I agree; there are some techs, banks, energy, and other stocks that are way too low, and you may be in the red for a year or so, but I played that game following the pop of the tech bubble and made some hellacious money.

Most of my sells have been to protect gains. Some of them broke my heart; like Apple, Cisco, Intel, and Oracle, but I would rather sit in money markets for the time being. I'm not sure they are even safe. I read an article where they indicated that the $1.00 par value may not hold if this boat goes over the falls.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

I am glad to know I am not the only one that thinks term limits would fix MOST of our problems.

I'm down about 50%. It makes you want to throw up. The greedy few at the top and the crooked politicians screw the rest of us and then we're left to pay for the bailout. One wonders how much longer such a situation can persist.

It's a good thing I spent all my money on hunts....

Cause I was poor then,and I'm poor now....

But I got some cool mounts on the wall....

I think anyone who can say they have done a dream hunt in Africa;should be grateful they had their chance....

Many won't,and you never know when economics,illness,or whatever;slows you down,or worse.

Dan

I think I'll make my next hunt in 2010, but only because it is a relatively modest plains game trip, having doubts about whether I will be able to move up to Buff before I am to old to go.

A banker here in Texas told me that 80% of the foreclosures (Dallas area I think) were cases where the borrower had NEVER made even one payment on the mortgage. The banker sure as hell did not want to make loans to that category of borrower. But if he wanted to get along with the Feds he had no choice. Just politicians of all sorts, but mostly Dems, using your money to buy votes, all in the interest of economic fairness you understand.

GET A ROPE!

Tradewinds,

YOU are right on the money. Throw them out. If the facts are really known so many of the decisions are made by the staffers who move from one representative or senator to another when ever an incumbent is defeated.

H Kittle

Open the link below. Do a google search on this article and you will find a list of other similar ones. Several of them point to a consistent path of resisting any kind of regulation or alteration of Fannie Mae from one "side of the aisle".

By the way, this article was written in 1999.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB...=fannie%20mae&st=cse

I have been blessed been to the Dark side 9 times. Every time I leave I wonder if I will get back.
I think the hunting industry will suffer along with the rest of us. Prices have gotten so high, it might help correct the sky high prices they are charging now. Don't get me wrong I don't wish anyone in the hunting ill will but some of the prices they are charging now is putting Africa out of reach for many. That's a damn shame

I went to see my CPA today for the final word on 07 taxes. You know it's gonna be bad when she meets you at the door with a kiss and gives you a bottle of wine. I would just like to meet the middle class family my taxes support!!! Really sorry about all cancelled hunts; I only wish I had the money to pick up one or two.

Kevin:

I'm going to take my 2007 tax information to mine tomorrow! It's not going to be fun, I've paid enough for several of your middle class families to go on hunts that I can't afford to go on.......

I'm going anyway.

What my 401K does, it does, I never figured I'd have enough to retire anyway, so I might as well spend what I have.

I am fortunte enough to owe nothing, live in an old paid for house, and drive an old paid for car, so what cash I have, I spend on hunting.

Hunt now, die poor.

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Blauwkamp:
I'm going anyway.

What my 401K does, it does, I never figured I'd have enough to retire anyway, so I might as well spend what I have.

I am fortunte enough to owe nothing, live in an old paid for house, and drive an old paid for car, so what cash I have, I spend on hunting.

That's the spirit, Terry!

I sold a whold wad of Aussie bank shares last year, and have money tied up in property,(which so far has not depreciated at all) but thankfully no other stocks.......

Our Reserve bank just cut the prime rate by 100 basis points to 6%.......Oz has a good surplus and some meat on the bone for future monetary policy "stimulus". Still won't be pretty.

Terry, You sound just like me... except i have 4 kids that eat up a lot of my money. They are worth it though... My 14 year old is 6'1" and 270 lbs and doesn't look that fat. He is tearing up the football field... His "little" brother that is 16 weighs 230... and even better on the line than the youngest. The two little ones don't eat much yet. The best thing is to take them hunting with me. I have a roof over my head, food on the table, ammo in my belt, car to drive. I am a blessed man. (the little i have in the market is smaller than ever) But life is still good.

Aaron

As to whether safari prices will go down, I just got a quote for a 10 day buffalo and PG hunt from a well known outfit that shows a 12% increase in daily rates, observer rates, dip & pack fees, as well as upward adjustments of some trophy fees. In our conversation he indicated that while he has had a slight drop in American bookings and inquiries, he has no end of interest from Europe and Russia. Don't hold your breath waiting for rates to go down.

Like many of you, I'm down significantly in my holdings, but I'll continue to go for as long as I can do so without compromising my family's needs. Life is too short.

The word from my booking agent is that there are virtually no new hunts being booked and that the market is like the rest, dead, dead, dead. Lots of cancellations already for '09 and it will only get worse.

I have deposits to hunt with Vaughn Fulton in the Caprivi Strip in August 2009 and intend on going on the hunt. I will see him at SCI in January to give him the rest of the amount needed to confirm the hunt. I have waited a lifetime to hunt elephant and the economy or whatever will not keep me from my dreams. If you don't do it you never will and if the economy collapses we will all be in the same boat,broke. Have paid for airfare and have the money for everything except trophy fees. I have a year to think about that additional 15 or 16 thousand. Its only money and you can't take it with you. Like I told my kids,While on my death bed I am going to write them all a check, that bounces.

Supply and demand, There will be some very good deals in the next two years. I just got an email for a great priced Cameroun hunt. I bet there will be a lot of Buffalo quotas unsold by the end of 09. Possibly great deals for those that wait and save up their money.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

I have to blame all Politicians, buth Republicans and Demecrats are crooked self centered people. We need to vote them all out and put in Term Limits, and while at it make them be involved in Social Security and it would not be bad if they all had to run a business and meet a payroll and deal with government regulations for a few years before they ran for office.

I am glad to know I am not the only one that thinks term limits would fix MOST of our problems.

We need term limits and the president should have a line item veto to get rid of all the bull shit that is attached (pork) to a good bill.

quote:

...he indicated that while he has had a slight drop in American bookings and inquiries, he has no end of interest from Europe...

I wonder if this flurry of activity was before the Euro began to fade.

quote:

...and Russia

I think the operators will find that they miss their Yank clients.

Sorry to hear you had to bag your plans BDM.

quote:

Originally posted by EB:
The word from my booking agent is that there are virtually no new hunts being booked and that the market is like the rest, dead, dead, dead. Lots of cancellations already for '09 and it will only get worse.

Same here - bookings are drying up and deposits are being returned...

If at all possible I would not cancel my plans. The market goes up and the market goes down. The value of the dollar is going no where but down but most importantly time simply will not stop. I you can possibly go and your health will let you GO TO AFRICA. My personal best guess is that in the very near future African trips are going to be only for the very wealthy.

Just my 2 cents worth.
e

quote:

The value of the dollar is going no where but down

Actually it has gone up quite a bit agains most foreign currency, especially the Rand. 7.3 to 1 in June when I was in Namibia now 9.2 to 1.

Seems like investors think America Sucks but the rest of the world Sucks more! Quite a few foreign markets have been shut down because they where falling too fast.

One thought about the term limit comments and lion hunting....first, lets outlaw lawyers running for office and being legislators at all government levels. I really think this would help.

That will put enough of them out of work and available as "beaters" for a few lion drives

I haven't been keeping track of the Rand but if it's now 9.2 to US$ 1 then this is a good time to go, especially with an outfitter that quotes the hunt in Rand or Namibian Dollars.

Investing in real estate, stocks, commodities, or anything tangible, at this time is awfully risky, and chances are it'll be a while before you can make any money out of them. I invest in myself going on hunts and the returns are immediate and lasts a life time. No downturn of the economy or government folly can take away or lessen what I've already reaped.

As long as you can cover the mortgage and feed your family, don't give up on hunting Africa. The Africa that we know today may not be there for us in the future. You've got to seize the time and do what you've always wanted to do, or just be a dreamer the rest of your life.

Namibiahunter

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Hunt now, die poor.

That's my story.

I've got a ton of airline miles and a little bit of cash. I plan to make full use of any really good discounted hunts that may come up. Problem is, most of the animals I'm after are of limited quantity and/or have CITIES issues.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefin:
I've got a ton of airline miles and a little bit of cash. I plan to make full use of any really good discounted hunts that may come up. Problem is, most of the animals I'm after are of limited quantity and/or have CITIES issues.

Check out the deal Camshaft just put up in the Discounted Hunt forum, LD Eland AND Bongo for $26,000...